Secret Service Agents 'Crashed into White House Barricade After Drinking at Late-Night Party as They Tried to Drive Through Area Being Investigated for Suspicious Package'
- An investigation has been launched to determine if two Secret Service agents drove their car into a White House barricade last week
- This after the men had reportedly been drinking at a late-night retirement party for Secret Service spokesman Edwin Donovan
- One of the agents involved is Mark Connolly, the second-in-command on President Barack Obama's security detail
- George Ogilvie, a senior supervisor in the Washington field office, has been identified as the other agent
- Officers on duty who witnessed the incident tried to arrest the agents and conduct a sobriety test, but a supervisor said to let the men go home
- In 2013 a civilian who crashed into a barricade at the White House was chased by police and shot at and killed
Daily Mail UK, 12 March 2015
The Homeland Security Department is investigating two senior Secret Service agents accused of crashing a car into a White House security barrier.
Mark Connolly, the second-in-command on President Barack Obama's security detail, and George Ogilvie, a senior supervisor in the Washington field office, reportedly drove a government car into the barricades after drinking at a late-night retirement party last week.
Secret Service spokesman Robert Hoback said recently appointed Director Joseph Clancy has been briefed on the March 4 incident and that Clancy has asked the Homeland Security Department's Inspector General's Office to investigate the incident.
Officers on duty who witnessed the incident reportedly tried to arrest the agents and conduct a sobriety test, but a supervisor said to let the men go home.
President Obama is aware of the incident and the investigation.
An investigation has been launched to see if two Secret Service agents, including Mark Connolly (above), the second-in-command on President Obama's security detail, drove their car into a White House barricade
This after the men had reportedly been drinking at a late-night retirement party for Secret Service spokesman Edwin Donovan (above)
The agency said the two agents have been reassigned to non-supervisory, non-operational jobs.
Reports say that the men had been at a bar to celebrate the retirement of departing Secret Service spokesman Edwin Donovan.
Connolly and Ogilvie have declined to comment, though it is believed that the incident was likely caught on Secret Service video, which feeds to the agency's command center.
According to witnesses, the two men had their flashing lights on and were showing their badges as they tried to get through a section of the grounds that had been closed as a suspicious package was being investigated at around 10:30pm.
It was then that they struck the barricade, after also driving through some security tape.
It is illegal to use the flashing lights on a government vehicle without a security reason, or to drive a vehicle after consuming any alcohol.
In 2013 a civilian who crashed into a barricade at the White House was chased by police and shot and killed.
'The Secret Service is aware of the allegations of misconduct involving two of our employees at the White House complex,' said Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary, a spokesman for the Secret Service.
'If misconduct is identified, appropriate action will be taken based on established rules and regulations.'
Also commenting on the situation were House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz of Utah and member Elijah Cummings of Maryland who said in a statement;
'The fact that this event involved senior-level agents is not only embarrassing but exhibits a clear lack of judgment in a potentially dangerous situation.
'The Committee as a whole remains committed to restoring the integrity of this elite agency and improving accountability at all staff levels.'
The crash investigation is the latest embarrassment for the agency tasked with protecting the president.
In the last six months, several top agency officials, including former Director Julian Pierson, have been forced out amid revelations of multiple, serious presidential security breaches.
In September, a Texas man armed with a knife was able to climb a White House fence and run deep into the executive mansion before being apprehended.
An internal investigation and an outside panel report both described serious problems within the agency.
A four-member panel of former senior government officials concluded in a report released last year that the agency was too insular and starving for leadership.
The panel recommended an agency outsider to replace Pierson, but Obama earlier this year tapped Clancy, a retired agent who led the agency on an interim basis after Pierson's ouster.
Quote:
PAST SECURITY BREACHES AT THE WHITE HOUSE
January 2015: An employee of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency accidentally crashed a small drone on the South Lawn at the White House while operating it from a nearby apartment.
The White House was put on lockdown for more than two hours after the crone hobbyist lost control of the device.
October 2014: Dominic Adesanya jumped the fence and made it onto the North Lawn before being taken down by two security dogs and arrested by the Secret Service.
September 2014: Omar J. Gonzalez, an Iraq army veteran with a knife in his pants, scaled the fence from the Pennsylvania Avenue side of the White House and made it inside. He overpowered an officer at the entrance and ran through most of the main floor and made it to the East Room before he was finally captured.
The shocking security breach launched congressional hearings and led to Secret Service director Julie Pierson's resignation.
Just 24 hours later college student Kevin Carr was arrested for trespassing after he parked his car at a security checkpoint outside the estate and refused to leave.
And in the same month a man wearing a Pikachu hat and carrying a plush doll of the Pokemon jumped the fence and walked on to the North Lawn.
August 2014: The White House went on lockdown after a toddler somehow managed to squeeze through the gates.
May 2014: A man was arrested for indecent exposure after stripping off all his clothes when he was denied access outside the White House.
June 2013: Joseph Reed crashed a driverless jeep filled with bullets, knives and two machetes into the Pennsylvania Ave. gate, hoping to create a diversion so he could spray paint a 'Don't tread on me' snake - a symbol sometimes associated with the Tea Party movement - on the side of the White House.
November 2009: In one of the most famous and extensive of breaches, reality TV stars Michaele and Tareq Salahi from Bravo show The Real Housewives of D.C. slipped past two Secret Service checkpoints and managed to crash a state dinner party that they were not on the guest list for while being filmed by cameras for their reality show.
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